Illegal Immigration: U.s. Must Stem Tide

May 4, 1986|By Joan Beck, Chicago Tribune

In March an average of 2,080 people a day were caught trying to enter the United States illegally across the borders of San Diego County alone. The total for the month was 64,475. In April the number was running even higher and may total 70,000.

Almost 2 million people will be caught trying to sneak into this country illegally this year, immigration officials say. The total has more than doubled since 1982.

Those figures don't count those who made it past the border guards and slipped into the United States successfully, in violation of immigration laws. No one knows how many people did. Probably half of those who tried succeeded without getting caught, immigration officials estimate.

Meanwhile, Congress continues to stutter and stall on legislation that would at least make some efforts to slow the uncontrolled tide of people entering this country illegally.

What is now called the Simpson-Rodino bill has been kicked around Capitol Hill for more than four years, picking up bitter enemies and only tepid friends. The House and the Senate passed measures to curb illegal immigration in 1984, but differences between the two versions could not be worked out. The Senate passed similar legislation again last September, but the House still is dallying.

Some opposition to Simpson-Rodino is practical. The legislation aims to cut illegal immigration by reducing the lure of jobs. It would require employers to verify that new employees are not illegal aliens. But it would make provision for temporary ''guest'' agricultural workers, although details are still a matter of controversy.

Lawmakers from agricultural states using large numbers of undocumented workers generally oppose these provisions, citing growers' needs for low-cost labor and reluctance to take on the burden of checking workers. Hispanics bitterly object to any curtailment of immigration and to what they fear will be harassment and discrimination if the bill is passed, even though other provisions would make it easier for those already here to legalize their status.

But many who welcome the idea of sanctions against illegal workers doubt they will be effective because of the ease with which documentation can be faked.

Some opposition to Simpson-Rodino is sentimental too. Millions of us empathize with the desperate poor who try to elude border guards in hopes of a job and a new home in this land of immigrants, and we are reluctant to slam the golden door. The United States will benefit and prosper because of these newcomers, just as it has with all the past tides of immigration, the arguments go.

But the situation is different now, in several ways. Poverty and population pressures are growing acute in Mexico, and there is no way this country can take care of the millions of people who know they could find more opportunities by walking or wading across the border. Fighting makes life dangerous in much of Central America. And immigration from other countries is on the rise.

Not all illegal aliens work in the fields. New data suggest that thousands of them have jobs U.S. citizens would like to have. Of 210,000 jobs held by Mexican immigrants who came to Los Angeles County between 1970 and 1980, about half would not have existed without large-scale Mexican immigration. But about half of the jobs might have gone to U.S. workers had Mexicans not been available, according to studies by the Urban Institute and the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

The longer legislators fidget and finagle, the stronger the special- interest groups opposing the Simpson-Rodino bill will grow and the harder it will become for Congress ever to pass any new controls on illegal immigration. Without them, it will be impossible to win the war on poverty, to raise this country's educational level and to control spending for public welfare.

Simpson-Rodino won't solve all of the problem. But it should reduce it a little. And that is better than nothing.